Retractile leg rest



Oct. 18, 1949. A. B. BELL ET AL RET RACTILE LEG REST Sheets-Sheet l Filed Sept. 29, 1945 Oct. 18, 1949. A. B. BELL ET AL RETRACTILE LEG REST 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 29, 1945 Patented Oct. 18, 1949 RETRACTILE LEG REST Alfred B. -Bell; :Philadelphia, 'Pa.', "and "Wilford stavcleyiwGardner, Mass.',"assignors to Heywood-Wakefield Company;

Gardner, Mass, a

corporation of Massachusetts Applicati0n September 29, 1945-,Serial No." 619,388

4 Claims. (Cl.-155+-170) This invention relates to a leg rest for use with chairspparticularly chairs intended for vehicles, suchcas-railway cars or buses and'the like.

It is an object of the invention to provide a leglrest which can conveniently be stowed beneath the seat of the chair but which-can readily be drawn out'and elevated'to a position of use in whichthe' upper surface of'the leg rest is preferably: inclined.

As a further object of the invention, to'provide 'a'leg-trest which-can be readily released from its stowed position beneath the seat: and which can be 'moved forward and upto its position of use by suitable springs. "Other'advantageous features will .be'apparent to *one'skil'led in'the art from the following description of an embodiment of the invention and from the drawings, of which:

Figure 1 is an end elevation'of airailway car chair having a leg-rest embodyingthe'invention; Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is asection on the line '330i Fi ure- 1;

Figure 4 is an section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

.Figure 5 is a section on ure 3;

.--Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 ofrFigure 3; and a Figure 7 is a sectionon the lineure 3.

The railway chairt shown in Figure 1 may be of any desired structure except that the base is so constructed as to leave stowage space for a leg rest. As shown, the chair comprises a seat cushion IG, a back rest l2 which may be adjustably inclined, an arm rest 14 on an end-wall" l6, and supports [8. -Two'su'pports I3 are shown in Figure 2but it is to be understood that one end of thelchairmay be supported. by theswall of the car orlbus in'which the chair is mounted. The-supports [.8 are mounted on a fixed base orpedestal 20.. This .base carries a pair of fixed horizontal rails 22 which are preferably in the form of channels having inturned flanges 24 asshownin Figures 6 and 7. Within the channels 22 areslidably supported elongated hollow slides 26. Theslides ZBcarry at their forward ends aleg rest 3lland telescope with the rails 22. The leg rest is'connected to the slides 25 by a linkage comprising a pair of forward links 32, each of which is pivotally attached at its upper end as at 33 to a bracket 34 fixed to the under side of the leg rest. The links 32 are-joined by a transverserod lit-(Figure 3) which projects beyond the links, the end prothe line 5-5 of-Figje'ctions being pivotally attached as at38 tothe win I restythe lower ends ofth'e links 40 being forward ends of the slides-2E. When'the leg-rest is in its position of-use in front'of a chair, as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure l; thelinks 32 extend down'to rest upon the floor'a'nd thus constitute auxiliary support-means taking: most of the-weight of theleg rest and the load' thereon. Therear' end of the-leg rest is supported by a pair of links. each of which ispivotally attached to a bracket 42'as at-43 near the rear end or the leg joined by a-transverse bar 44 (Figures) havingprojecting'endportions 46 which extend into longitudinalslots inthe'slides26 as shown in Figure 6. A spring 5i! is stretched between the cross barz36 and "cross-bar 44. This spring is'always'under tension-,1 but particularlyrso when the leg rest is in its lowered horizontal position 'for"'stowin'g since the'sprin'g' is'thenponsiderably stretched. When thetleg rest is'ymoved from its elevated inclinedposition' to its'lowered horizontal-position,

then the cross bar 44 moves toward :the rear to permit-the rear end ofthe'leg rest to descend. As the axis A l is drawn 'down and toward the rear, the axis-33 is'alsodrawn downtoward the'rear,

thelinks 32 being rocked-aboutthe" axis of'the crossbar-'36 until theyare'substantially horizontal.v-As-indicatedin Figure lithe axes 33 and 4l eventually move down to a position wherein they are both belowthe line of centers of the cross bars 36 and. The links 32 and! thus form a'sort of toggle; the double pivot of w-hichwpassesacross the:line of centers of the extreme ends of the toggle;-that is, the' bars36 and 44. This results ina snap action arrangement by whichthe spring 50 operatesto. hold the leg. rest in itshorizontal position as shown in Figure 4, but when -the-leg rest is manually raised a slight amount-so as: to bring. either. of theaxes33. or above the line of .centers of .the bars 36. ands, the. spring-:50 thereupon acts to elevatethe leg rest toits fully raisedposition, as shown in Figure. 1. The forwardlendsl52 of. the slots inthe slides 26 stop the forward movement of the cross bareXtensions lB when theleg rest reaches its position of'use.

,The leg rest 30 and the slides 26 on which it is supported can be moved-forward and rearward on the rails ..22. manually or, ifidesired, spring means may be provided for forward movement of these i members. Such spring means are illustrated in Figures 3 and 7, and comprise a pair of helicalsprings vti l on a transverse. shaft 56, the ends of which shaft are journalled-intheslides 26.1neantherear ends thereof. :Mounted on the sh'aftifi are a pair ofwgear wheelsfill whichmesh with racks Gladjacent to. the-respective rails 22.

- As illustrated in the drawings, the gear wheels 58 are in the form of star wheels, the points of which enter a series of holes in the racks 60, but any other suitable form of rack and gear mechanism can be employed as desired. Adjacent to each,

of the gear wheels 58, a triangular slide member 62 is loosely mounted on the shaft 56, its bottom surface bearing slidably on the top of the corresponding rack 88 so that it moves forward and rearward on the rail 68 but is not rotatable. One end of each of the springs 56 is secured to the corresponding slide 62 as at 64, the other end of the spring being secured as at 58 to the shaft 56. Thus when the slides 26 are pushed toward the rear so as to move the leg rest to its stowed position beneath the seat ill, the rotation of the shaft 46 b the engagement of the gear wheels 58 with the racks 89 winds up the springs 54 so that they tend to impel the leg rest and its supportingslides forward. In order to retain the leg rest in its stowed position against the force of the springs 54, a suitable latch 79 is provided. This latch, as indicated in Figure 4, is provided with a cam face 12 in the path of the cross bar 84 so that when the cross bar moves far enough to the rear to engage the latch 79 it lifts the latch and passes beyond the nose 78 thereof behind which it catches. The latch is pivotally mounted as at 16 on the bracket 78 secured to the base of the chair and is constantly pressed to its engaging position by a suitable spring 80 as shown in Figure 4. For convenient releasing of the latch 78 any suitable linkage may be provided. As shown in Figure 1, the latch 70 is provided with an upwardly extending arm 82 which is pivotally connected to the lower end of a projection 84 on a transverse rod 85 which is rigidly secured to the end of a lever 86. The upper end of this lever is connected by a link 87 to the lower end of an operating lever 88 mounted within the side frame iii of the chair. The handle of the operating lever 88 is conveniently placed for the occupant of the chair. By rocking the lever 88, the latch 70 can be raised to release the leg rest and allow the springs 54 to thrust the leg rest to its forward position in front of the chair. If the leg rest is slightly raised by the foot or hand of the occupant of the chair, the spring 58 will then operate to elevate it to its inclined position for use. When the use of the leg rest is no longer desired, it is depressed manually until the axes 33 and 4| are below the line of centers of the rods 36 and 44. The leg rest is then in its lowered horizontal position and may be pushed manually to the rear until the bar 84 catches beyond the nose M of the latch 70.

We claim:

1. A chair having a seat, a pair of horizontal rails mounted beneath said seat and extending from front to rear, a pair of elongated slides supported by and slidable on said rails, an auxiliary support member pivotally mounted at'an intermediate point thereof on the forward end of each said slide, said support members being rockable)" from a horizontal position to an upright position in which the lower ends thereof rest on the floor, a leg rest pivotally mounted on the upper ends of said supports, and a pair of links pivotally attached at their upper ends to said leg rest near its rear end, the lower ends of said links being movable along said slides to raise or lower the rear end of the leg rest.

2. A chair having a seat, a pair of rails mounted beneath said seat and extending from front to rear, elongated slides supported by and slidable on said rails, a leg rest mounted on said slides and movable thereon from a lowered horizontal to an elevated inclined position, a linkage connecting said leg rest and said slides, a spring connected to said linkage to maintain said leg rest yieldingly in either of said positions, spring means tending to move said slides and leg rest forward, and a manually releasable latch for holding said leg rest in a rearward position under said seat.

3. A chair having a frame with a seat thereon, a support projecting forward from the frame below the level of the seat, a leg rest carried by said support, and means yieldingly maintaining said leg rest in an elevated or a lowered position, said means comprising a pivot connection between the forward end of said support member and an intermediate point of said leg rest, a link pivoted at one end to the leg rest near the rear end thereof and at the other end to said support, the pivot connection to the support being slidable thereon a limited distance forward to raise the rear end of the leg rest, and spring means urging said movable pivot forward whereby the rear end of the leg rest is maintained yieldingly in an elevated position when its link pivot is above the line of centers of the pivots on said support and is yieldingly maintained in a lowered position when its link pivot is below the line f centers of the pivots on the support.

4. A chair having a seat, a pair of horizontal rails mounted beneath said seat and extending from front to rear, 2. pair of elongated slides supported by and slidable on said rails, an auxiliary support member pivotally mounted at an intermediate point thereof on the forward end of each said slide, said support members being rockable from a horizontal position to an upright position in which the lower ends thereof rest on the floor, a leg rest pivotally mounted on the upper ends of said supports, a pair of links pivotally attached at their upper ends to said leg rest near its rear end, the lower ends of said links being movable along said slides to raise or lower the rear end of the leg rest, and spring means carried by said slides tending to move the lower ends of said links in a direction to raise the leg rest when the upper pivots of the links are above the level of the lower ends of the links and to hold down the leg rest when the upper pivots of the links are below the level of the lower ends of the links.

ALFRED B. BELL. WILFORD STAVELEY.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 155,187 Enger Sept. 22, 1874 161,887 Lanibert Apr. 13, 1875 167,095 Goss Aug. 24, 1875 335,815 Hogan Feb. 9, 1886 513,170 Armstrong Jan. 23, 1894 1,185,819 Ostendorf June 6, 1916 1,211,428 Fischrupp Jan. 9, 1917 1,301,835 Glenister Apr. 29, 1919 1,821,298 Ferreira Sept. 1, 1931 1,962,789 Simpson et a1 June 12, 1934 2,185,813 Johnson Jan. 2, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 323,675 France Nov. 17, 1902 

